Another sneak preview/Arab Street

I had a great start to the day and got sewing early on my latest project - It is really humming along! (you can just spy it on the right hand side!)

Misty, was her usual supportive self

Later my friend Jesse and I headed down to Arab Street to check out some of my favourite shops.  I needed to buy some "bling" for my challenge quilt for the art quilts around the world group.  The theme for this month is "Carnival" and I have already decided what to do and how.  

We had a great time checking out the shops - you know that you go too often when they give your friend a discount due to me being a "regular"!

We also went and ate at my favourite Lebanese restaurant.  Yummy!!!

This week I will also make some more ice dyes as the last batch has flown out the door!  I guess that's a good "problem" to have! 

WATCH THIS SPACE!

Ice dyeing

This week was the Chinese Lunar New Year and so we had a couple of days off. This was a much needed break in our house as we have had sick kids all of last week!  Thankfully they are all well again and are off to school today.

This weekend I finally started cutting up the 400+ yards of fabric that I got in January and got stuck into some dyeing.

First up - Ice dyeing

I love the textures in these - they would be great for applique, backgrounds or piecing.

Most people do these with snow during winter but living in Singapore means you just have to adapt and use ice cubes instead.  At least I don't have to wait long for the ice to melt!

Next up:  12 meters of fabric dyed into 12 dark muted colours.  Today's job is ironing and cutting them into fat quarters.

Thankfully it was not so hot yesterday and with the fan on I managed to keep the temperature in the kitchen to a balmy 28 deg. celsius!  Great for the weight loss!

so dyeing 60 fat quarters in a weekend.....not too shabby!

Happy Quilting

Friends to Dye with! - Ice Dyes

My friend Jesse came over today to do some fabric dyeing:

First we did 12 clear colour fat quarters.  These ones were given lots of "massaging" in the bag so as to get a more even colour and less mottling.

Next we did the "ice" dyeing - I have always loved what quilters in snowy climates could do with snow dyes but as there is no snow in Singapore, ice cubes would have to do:

Fabric on cake rack with ice on top

Sprinkle dye powder on top and wait for ice to melt (it was 38 deg today)

Love the texture on these

Next we did the "shibori" dyeing on the pvc pipe:

Fushia, orange, yellow and black

And lastly some green/black gradiants and a fushia/black piece:

What a great day - we gots lots done and it was great fun but boy was it hot in the kitchen!

I think next time we will close the outside doors and crank the aircon in the lounge up and hope some of the cool wafts into the kitchen.

Happy quilting!